


picture the thing you've always wanted

by bellestrashprince



Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Genre: F/M, Mostly Fluff, Sooo Much Angst, and lots of angst, i'm not even sorry, just as seductive adam is the best adam, mopey belle is the best belle, will probably include smut because I am trash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-07 17:21:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11063619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellestrashprince/pseuds/bellestrashprince
Summary: A series of one-shots about Belle and Adam from Disney's Beauty and the Beast as part of thestanfoubrew and remuslupinsmiled's 30 Days of Beauty and the Beast challenge! A new chapter every day for all of June. Occurs during different times in the story, both during and after the curse. Mainly from the 2017 version but can apply to 1991 as well. Enjoy!





	1. morning

**Author's Note:**

> So... Here it is. Day one; morning. Hope you all like it and if you do please leave a comment or a kudos. Spread the word so more people can join the 30 Days of BATB Challenge! I apologise in advance if day two is delayed since I have to finish some homework before I can get to working on that. 
> 
> Anyways. Happy reading!

The welcoming tune of birds singing fill his ears as Adam slowly awakes. Except for the birdsong there is nothing but the hum of silence to accompany him in the morning. The sun shines its rays through the large glass doors that lead out to his terrace, sending little flickers of light across the room, illuminating the decorative interior. Even though it has been quite some time since the transformation, when the castle finally returned to its former glory, Adam still hasn’t gotten used to not seeing the gloomy, dark room he’d lived in for so long. This version of the West Wing is different, with gilded vines climbing their way up the white marble pillars and across the walls and ceiling. Not to mention the fact that all of the furniture he had previously torn asunder in his fits of rage and grief were now perfectly intact, like no misfortune had come to them.

Adam stretches out his arms as lies in his large four-poster bed and they soon find his wife, sleeping soundly next to him. Perhaps the strangest thing of all, if not the sensation of having human hands and feet, has to be not waking up alone in the morning. Even more so, waking up next to Belle. He smiles at the thought of his beautiful wife and, reminded of how much he misses her even though she’s lying next to him, inches his body closer to hers under the covers.  
Only to find that she is not sleeping at all. He shouldn’t be surprised to find his bookworm of a lover reading in bed, Belle’s usually the one to wake up at the crack of dawn and he the one to sleep in as long as he can now that he’s no longer as ghosted by his nightmares as he was before, but on this morning he is.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

She shushes him. “I’m reading.”

Adam’s brows furrow as he wrinkles his forehead in concentration. His gaze moves towards the book she has in hand. Quite an average book, but he recognises the leather binding and the intricate engravings of the title on the cover. He sits up, leaning forward as he puts his weight on his forearm to squint at the words printed on the page.

“Are you reading Hamlet?” Belle ignores him and continues reading, her brows adorably knitting together as she tries to concentrate on the words on the page. “Without me?”

Belle turns around, looking him directly in the eyes. Her gaze is firm, but not unkind. “Well, it wasn’t me who fell asleep while my wife was reading for me.” Her eyes return to the pages of her book.

He stills, trying to gather his thoughts, when the memories of the night before catch up to him. He and Belle had retired to his bedchamber in the West Wing after a long meal with the household staff. Usually husband and wife do not share a bedroom, nevertheless a bed, but Adam and Belle find it hard to be apart from each other, and after hours of Cogsworth tediously droning on about taxes and the state of nearby villages they needed the time to relax by themselves more than ever. Once they’d undressed Belle had picked up Hamlet and read out loud to him as they lay in bed together. Somehow he had fallen asleep, probably because of the way her beautiful voice resonated in his ears. Now, in defiance, Belle was reading his favourite play without him.

Unsatisfied with his wife being displeased with him Adam knows the best way to get what he wants is to ask for forgiveness in his own way.

“Belle…” Adam mutters her name under his breath, inching closer and nuzzling his head in the crook of her neck. Her scent of lavender with a hint of rose tickles his nose as he rubs the tip of it along her shoulder. “Belle…” he says again, before lightly pressing a kiss on her collarbone. “Belle…” His forefinger traces lines between the freckles dotting her skin. “Belle…” His lips find her jawline and he kisses that spot too. He can feel her squirm under his touch and he knows he’s succeeded. His mistake from the night before is now long forgotten.

His wife clears her throat and begins to read aloud. “Doubt thou the stars are fire; doubt that the sun doth move; doubt truth to be a liar; but never doubt I love.” Adam smiles in delight at his triumph and rests his head on her shoulder, taking in her every word as she reads for him. Belle, his wife, reading his favourite play to him. He can’t even begin to picture what his mornings were like before they were this. He doesn’t want to.


	2. jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part two of the 30 Days of BATB challenge! In which Adam sees Belle reading in the garden and he gets jealous about the stupidest thing and scolds himself for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here it is! Chapter/day two. I have no idea how I managed to get this written in time, but thank God I did. As always, I hope you enjoy the prompt and if you do please leave a comment or kudos.
> 
> Happy reading!

The inside of Adam’s study is hot and darkened, the air stuffy, a stark contrast to the beautiful view of his garden outside his window. He’s been signing paper after paper all day, pressing the seal of his family onto letter after letter. It turns out disappearing off the face of the earth for a decade while in the body of a beast is not something the nobility of France were particularly happy with. After spending his first few happy days as a human with Belle he’d been forced to return to the less enjoyable parts of his noble title. Before everything, before the curse, before Belle, he’d never really given it much thought. He’d simply signed whatever Cogsworth had handed him, doing it as swiftly as he could so he would be able to return to his other duties (which, he shamefully remembers, meant gambling, purchasing new clothes and wigs, and spending time with noble ladies in a most amorous way). But now he was a different man.

In a way, Belle had changed him in more ways than one. The most obvious was of course the fact that he was now human, no claws, no tail, no fangs, but perhaps the most important aspect of him that she had changed was that he was now opening himself up to other people. This of course meant that Adam was more or less dependent on his _amour_ and that every moment not spent with her was a wasted one.

 _Like this one_ , he thinks to himself as he picks up yet another bill from the pile and reads through it before pressing the hot wax seal at the bottom of the piece of parchment. However, he was determined to do things right this time around. Belle had been so proud of him when he’d told that villager Gaston that he was no beast, and ever since then he’d felt this need to prove it to her. To be a monster one must first do monstrous things, Adam had heard someone say, and he was certain he’d never want to be a monster again.

Today made things difficult, however. _Damn Belle and her habit of reading out in the garden!_ He could see her now, sitting under a rose bush in the colonnade, holding a book gently as she switched page after page, head bowed down in concentration. Adam wants nothing more than to drop everything and walk out there and wrap his arms around her waist, kiss her hair, and tell her how much he loves her. But he knows he cannot. He needs to finish this work before he can leave, and his Belle will have to wait.

He licks his forefinger and turns the page. He wrinkles his forehead in frustration as he tries to focus on the written words, but his mind drifts off. Sometimes Adam finds himself wishing he did not have the title, or the castle, or the duties that come with it. He wishes he’d just be Adam, a simple villager in Villenueve. Perhaps he’d be a farmboy, or the son of a shop owner, maybe the baker’s assistant. In that life he and Belle would meet and fall in love instantly. He’d court her by giving her books and flowers, go riding with her, and one day they would move into a small cottage somewhere in the village, just the two of them. In that life there would be no bills to sign, no seals to press, no duties to attend to. Just him and Belle in their little cottage.

Adam feels a pang of jealousy for the life he could never have. He knows it’s silly to feel jealous about something that doesn’t exist, but he cannot help it. He lifts his head to look out the window to steal another glimpse of Belle, but to his disdain he cannot find her sitting under the roses. He looks around frantically for his love, craning his neck to get a better view out the window, and finds himself getting worried when he still cannot find her.

Suddenly he feels a warm hand on his shoulder. Adam turns his head around in panic and sees Belle’s arms snake around his waist. His body relaxes as he tries to remain calm, even though it feels like his heart is about to burst. She rests her head on his shoulder, kissing his neck. _His Belle, his Belle, his beautiful, beautiful Belle._ How does she know exactly what to do to calm him down? He’ll never tire of the feeling of her arms around him, of her soft brown hair brushing against his cheek, of her kisses that gently press against his skin. He closes his eyes as he gives in to the sensation.

“Yes, _l’amour de ma vie?_ ” he asks with a smile on his face, goosebumps rising on his neck as her warm breath tickles his skin as she sighs.

“I feel as if I haven’t seen you all day.”

A cheeky grin spreads across his face. “I take it you have missed me then.”

She snorts but kisses his jawline tenderly before climbing onto his lap. Adam quickly lays down his quill so he can hold onto her back as Belle wraps her arms around his neck. She slowly unties the bow that holds his hair together in a neat hairstyle.

“It took me half an hour just to get that right, you know.”

Belle ignores him and starts to run her fingers through his blonde curls, massaging his head as her nails softly graze his scalp. “More than ever.”

Adam retorts back to teasing then. “I’m glad to hear I am still irresistible then.”

She traces her hand across his jaw, her nails brushing against the coarse stubble that’s beginning to grow. “Today especially.”

His eyes avert back to the pile of papers he still has to sign, and he decides that it will have to wait. It is evident that Belle can’t any longer.

“Alright then. You have me. I’m yours.”

She presses her lips against his, soft and warm and everything he needs. He smiles into the kiss. A decade was a small price to pay for this.


	3. midnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The third prompt for the 30 Days of BATB challenge. Adam is haunted by the nightmares of his death when Belle finds him under the moonlight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Sorry for a late update this time. I had some issues in real life that needed to be solved first. Hope you like my third installment here. Sorry if it feels a bit rushed, but that's because it is. I am on a schedule, after all. It's inspired by Dan's kissing scene in Summer in February. Look it up. It is H O T.
> 
> As always,  
> happy reading!

He should be asleep. The cold night air breezes through the open window with a howl. Adam tugs the duvet closer to his body, the soft burgundy velvet brushing against his cheeks as he clenches his muscles in attempt to warm up his body. It’s not chillier in his bedchamber than anybody else’s but, as much as he hates to admit it, Adam’s gotten used to the privilege of being covered in fur, something that always kept out the cold. In theory he shouldn’t be sleeping with the window open (Mrs Potts would kill him if she knew he was putting his health at risk), but as much as he’s tried he cannot sleep with it closed. He feels claustrophobic, a phobia he’s gotten from being stuck inside the body of a beast for a decade.

He should sleep, but he’s worried that he might wake up and still be a monster. After tossing and turning for a few minutes he gives up and walks towards the window. Outside the full moon is shining its ghastly white light upon his garden, creating dark shadows from the trees and hedges. Adam looks out into the darkness and is horrified by it. Memories of his brief death flashes before his eyes. He shuts them in terror, trying to keep the images out of his head, but they’re still there. The dark, the ever-growing dark that never ended. All Adam wants to do is scream, but he’s afraid of waking up the others. Out of the corner of his eye he can still see the place where his dead body had lain. Tears start to stream down his face as he realises how close he’d been to losing everything. His hands tug at his blonde locks until his scalp feels sore, his nails slowly digging into his skin. He closes his eyes again, but that only makes it worse. _Get out, get out, get out!_ he wants to scream, but he cannot. _Let me sleep. I am so, so tired._ His body shakes as he lets out a cry of anguish. _Please, just let me sleep. I want to sleep,_ he wishes, but cannot, for fear that the darkness might swallow him whole.

Suddenly he hears a door creak open behind him. Adam stops crying for a moment to turn around and face whoever has entered the West Wing. To his horror he finds that it is Belle. He does not want her to see him like this. He stretches his back a little, drying his tears with his thumb, and tries to pretend that nothing is wrong. She walks slowly towards him until she is just close enough for him to see her red eyes that are filled with tears. His heart breaks to see her like that, but he cannot find the courage to say anything. Belle inches closer to him until their lips are just moments away from each other. Adam’s breathing his heavy, his heart beating faster than ever before. She’d seen him die, and yet somehow this was the first time she saw him at his worst. He feels the crippling sensation of self-doubt creep up on him. _What if she did not want him now?_

“Adam…” His name escapes her lips like a sigh, and the sheer intimacy of her calling out his name topples him to the point where he cannot keep it in any longer. Desperately he grabs onto her back, while Belle’s hands move to the back of his neck, and he smashes his lips against hers. He’s never wanted her more, wanted to feel her warmth as his skin grazes against hers, wanted to feel her hands running through his hair, wanted to feel the the steady beating of her heart as her body is pressed up against his. _He wants her, he wants her, he wants her._

Adam’s lips leave hers for a moment kiss her neck, his teeth softly grazing over her pulse that’s beating just below her jawline, reminding him that she’s here. She’s here, she came back for him, he’s alive.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Belle moans in his ear. “I kept picturing you-” Adam’s lips meet hers again, silencing her. He can almost hear her heartbeat as they separate and they can both finally breathe. He clings onto her desperately. She has his heart, his life, from the day she’d saved him his soul had been tied to hers. He was the master of the castle, the Prince, and yet this woman had made him into hers, her servant.

Adam gives her a sweet kiss on the forehead. He could do this for the rest of his life and still never tire of it. His lips find hers again, a softer kiss this time, slow, but just as passionate. Belle’s hands cup his cheek, holding onto him like she’s afraid he might not be real.

“I love you,” Adam says, out of breath. “I love you and I want you. I _need_ you.” He leans his forehead against hers, trying hopelessly to steady his heartbeat that he knows will never slow around her.

“Adam…” Belle whispers again, and he knows she feels the same.


	4. bath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 4 of the 30 Days of BATB challenge! Belle takes a bath, only to be joined by her husband.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bellestrashprince here, providing you with that sweet, sweet sin. Because what else could I write when the prompt is "bath"?
> 
> Oh boiii, first smut I've ever posted. What do you guys think? Please leave a comment or kudos if you like it!
> 
> Happy reading!

The water is warm against her skin, smooth like silk, as she slips her foot in. The freedom of being able to have just have a moment to herself as she bathes is a joy Belle could not possibly have even dreamt of before she met Adam. In fact, there are many privileges that came with her new life in the castle. She sits down in the bronze tub and rests her head against the cool edge lined with linen fabric, closing her eyes as she thinks of her own little paradise.

In truth, what had her life been before she met Adam? Granted, her life with her father in Villenueve had not been worse than anyone else’s. She’d lived there for almost the entirety of her life, tending to the farm, aiding her father in the cottage, reading the same books over and over, coming up with new inventions to make life easier. Within her first night in the _chateau_ she’d experienced more adventure than she could have ever hoped for. She hadn’t realised it then, but Adam had already awoken her interest. He was so much more than she had initially thought, there was so much depth to him. When she’d heard of his childhood with his father it had struck a chord within her, and at the thought of it her heart still ached for her husband.

“I must say I am quite disappointed to see you’ve deprived me of your company tonight,” a voice says and Belle opens her eyes and looks towards the doorway. Her husband, glorious as ever, is leaning against the open wooden door, a warm smile on his face, eyes full of love as Adam looks at his wife. Dressed in a vermillion overcoat embroidered with silver vines paired with matching breeches. His hair, golden and tousled, falls down to his shoulders in perfect ringlets, and his white shirt hangs slightly untucked under his waistcoat. This is exactly how Belle prefers him, tired after a long day, just a little bit undone. He walks towards her seductively, slowly as if to build up the anticipation, before crouching down beside her where she sits in the tub. Adam slides a hand under her brown hair and cups her cheek. “How are you this evening, my love?”

Belle sighs and nuzzles into his touch, kissing his palm. “Quite well. And you?”

“Tired.”

“Then we’ll have to fix that.”

Adam gives her a kiss on the lips. “Yes, I believe we do.” He takes off his coat and rolls up his sleeve before guiding his hand slowly into the water. His hand finds her thigh underneath the warm water and perfumes. With his other hand he picks up one of the flowers floating and places it behind her ear. Belle smiles at first, but at the feeling of his soft hand as it makes its way up her thigh her breath hitches in her throat. She’s still not used to being touched by him so whenever he does her heart leaps in her chest. Her brown eyes lock with his light blue.

“I’ve missed you all day.”

His hand creeps between her legs and finds her sex. His thumb grazes over the bundle of nerves and to his delight Belle arches her back in pleasure. Adam kisses her on the neck and hears her moan in his ear.

“I know, _mon amour._ I’m sorry. I’ll make up for it,” he whispers softly in her ear and presses a finger against her entrance.

Belle’s lips part as she presses her head back towards the edge of the tub and sighs. Her heart races, fluttering against her ribcage like a bird trapped in a cage. Desperately she grabs hold of her husband, her nails digging into his shoulder. “I think you already are.” She pulls him closer and Adam gently tugs at her earlobe with his teeth. “Won’t you join me?”

“Soon,” he promises and pushes a finger between her folds, sliding into her slowly. Belle nods in response, not being able to formulate words. She pushes her hips into his hand, aching for him, and he slides his other hand under the water and finds her breast.

Water dripping from her hand and down his back Belle urges him to come closer. “Adam, please-“

“Yes, my love?”

“I-“ she begins, but cannot finish her sentence before she gasps and climaxes. Adam kisses her sweetly and then stands up, pulling down his breeches and tights and then tugging off his white shirt. Belle sinks deeper into the tub as her husband finally joins her, climbing into the warm water and sitting down in front of her. She parts her thighs for him and he rests his back against her torso, her breasts pressing into his shoulders.

“How was your day?”

“Tiresome. Cogsworth has been tailing me all day about the visit from the Duke of Orleans. I’m just thankful I got this moment alone with you.”

Belle grabs the sponge sitting on the edge of the tub and dunks it in the water, letting the scented oils seep into it before softly pressing it against his arm. The sweet scent fills her nostrils as the liquid trickles down his skin, and she rubs the sponge over his torso, gently cleansing him.

Adam sighs heavily and leans backwards and Belle rests her chin on his shoulder.

“Will you be busy tomorrow as well?”

He chuckles lightly, his body moving against hers. “You know, I have half the mind to stay here with you for the rest of the week.”

She smiles at the thought of having her husband to herself, spending day in and day out with her love, all by themselves. “Yes, let’s make it a plan, shall we?”


	5. leather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> College AU. Adam walks Belle home from a party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! It's an au! The prompt was leather and I didn't want it to be too sinful so I made it an AU. Sorry for updating too late. My friend's boyfriend cheated on her so I spent the whole day with her. I'll try to catch up tomorrow.

The soft summer breeze brushes against her uncovered arms as Belle walks out of the frat house. She tugs at the sleeves of her turtleneck and folds her arms over her chest to fight off the chill night air. The full moon omits a silver glow, a stark contrast to the midnight blue evening sky, and shines a ghoulish light over the campus.

Perhaps she shouldn’t be walking home alone on a Saturday night, wearing nothing but a knitted jumper and a cordouroy pinafore. Her father has taught her all about what might happen to women alone in the dark. A part of her almost hopes those self defense classes might come to use. So far her life at college, though far from Villenueve, has been the opposite of adventurous. Her nights consisted mostly of studying and going down to the campus library. Belle spent more time there than in her dorm. That was partly because she felt at home surrounded by the dusty, leather-bound books than anywhere else, and partly because it was the one place she knew Gaston, the prestigeful college jock and her own personal stalker, wouldn't be caught dead in. For a long time she’d thought he was the worst of the worst, until she’d stumbled upon the snotty, spoiled brat Adam Villenueve in English class. At least that’s what she’d thought he was.

Recently things had begun to change between them, _he_ had changed. Belle thinks back to how different things had been back then. She’d hated how he almost always got higher marks than her on tests, how he didn’t even seem to have to study at all and he was still at the top of the class, how he always raised his hand at every single question their professor asked, and now she smiled at the memory. She even felt a bit proud whenever he got the question right. Belle’d never had thought she would feel whatever it is she’s feeling for a frat boy.

“Belle!” a voice calls out behind her and she turns around. Who else could it have been? She stiffens as she sees Adam running out of his frat house, pulling on his leather jacket simultaneously. He jogs up to her, cheeks a light pink, curtesy of the cold air and as well as him running after her, and stops right in front of her and straightens out his hair.“Are you leaving?”

Belle says nothing, only raises an eyebrow.

“Ah,” he cringes. “Of course.”

“No more of this for you then,” she says and takes the red cup out his hand, filled halfway with his Goldslick vodka. He reaches after it helplessly but stops when Belle takes a sip herself.

“Where are you heading?”

“Home.”

Adam falls silent for a moment, looking down at his sneakers before shyly looking at the building behind her. He runs a hand through his blonde hair, the heavenly curls cascading down to his shoulders. He always smells so good, a mix of all the expensive hair products that are a part of his morning routine and his Dolce and Gabbana cologne he constantly brags about. Belle doesn’t want him or anyone to know, but she secretly loves it.

“Could I walk you home?”

She pretends to consider it, even though she already knows the answer. “Sure.” 

They turn around and start walking down the gravelled road, the sound of stones crushing under their feet the only thing to be heard.

“You seemed to enjoy yourself tonight,” Belle says finally.

Adam shakes his head and gestures towards the cup in her hand. “Not really.”

“How come?”

For a moment he says nothing as they walk towards the fountain with its water trickling down in steady drops, a comforting sound adjoining the crickets. Then he clears his throat. “Today is my mother’s death day.”

“Ah.” Belle feels ashamed. She should’ve known. “I'm sorry, Adam. How long has it been?”

“She died when I was 10. Which, I know, should mean that I've forgotten about it by now. But the longer it's gone the longer I've lived without her and I guess that makes it worse.”

She untangles one of her hands and places it on his bicep, the black leather of his jacket smooth against her palm. Belle detects just the hint of a smile at the notion.

“I'm sorry. I don't mean to drag you down,” Adam smiles apologetically at her, a smile that breaks her heart. His gaze moves down to Belle’s hands rubbing her arms to keep warm. “Are you cold? Here, take my-”

“Oh, no. Please, there's no-” she begins, but he's already taken it off and is placing it carefully on her shoulders. She grabs at the zippers, pulling the sides closer to her body and snuggling into the silk inner lining.The jacket has his scent, that musky, luxiorious perfume that makes her knees weak. “Thank you.”

“Did you just-” Adam laughs.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Belle frowns and to her extreme disappointment spots her building not far ahead. “Well, this is me,” she says and nods towards the red brick house.

They both stop outside her door, but it seems as if there are so many more things they need to say. She hates to see him go, and he hates to leave.

“Goodbye, then,” says Adam, the sole of his shoe scraping against the gravel.

“Goodbye,” Belle agrees. Without thinking she stands up on her tiptoes and gives him a quick kiss on the cheek before darting up the stairs and into her house.

Adam stands motionless on the other side of the door, a sneaky pink colour creeping its way on his cheeks. He chuckles finally and runs a hand through his lame curls and begins walking back home.

Belle hides in her window, glancing out at him as he walks slowly. His figure casts a long shadow on the road and she watches it for as long as she can, craning her neck to be able to watch him as long as she can, her heart fluttering in her chest. No, she definitely had not planned this.


	6. first

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 6 of the 30 Days of BATB challenge. Belle and Adam return from Montmartre only to share a very intimate moment that makes Belle reconsider.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I know, I know. I've missed three days. Hope you can all forgive me. I've been busy with my irl friends (like I mentioned last time) and then I got hit with food poisoning so have just now been able to actually type something.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter and, if you do please leave a comment or kudos. Or both!
> 
> Happy reading!

There is something different in the air when they return home to the library. Belle’s eyelashes are sticky against her tear-stained cheeks. She clears her throat and tries to dry them with her thumb, but to no avail. She doesn’t know how to feel. Perhaps it hadn’t been such a good idea to return to the windmill where she’d been born, where her mother had died, but it still felt like something she’d had to see.

Adam stands beside her, his figure moving slowly along with his heavy breathing. He doesn’t know what to say. He’d never been one to express his grief. He thinks maybe just standing there helps. If he were human, _oh, God if he were human…_ If he were human, and not this horrid beastly creature, he’d place a warm hand on her shoulder before wrapping his arms around Belle’s petite figure in a protective embrace. But he’s not human. Not for the first time, Adam feels claustrophobic in his body, a body he cannot get out of. He doesn’t want to scare the girl that has come to mean so much to him.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shown you the book. I did not mean to hurt you,” he says finally and Belle looks up at him, her eyes glossy and beautiful, the depth of her chocolate irises mesmerising. “If I’d known I wouldn’t have-”

She stops him before he can say anything else, throwing herself on him without a second thought. Her face reaches just about to his chest and Adam has to stop breathing as an attempt to lower his heartbeat, fearing that she might hear it.

They stand in silence for a while, Belle’s arms around his waist, gentle and firm at the same time, her face pressed up against the velvet collar of his blue jacket. He can feel the fabric start to cling to his chest as she continues crying. Though shocked at first, immobile, he slowly puts one hand on her back, gently pushing her closer to him. To his surprise she doesn’t jump back at his touch, instead moving closer.

“You’ve never hurt me. Not once. Please don’t apologise.”

It’s a strange feeling, crying when in the body of a monster. The tears slowly make their way down his fur-clad cheeks. It’s the first time he’s been so intimately touched by her, his first contact with a human since his mother died. The thought sends shivers down his spine. So much heartbreak in one moment. Oh, God how he wants to touch her, and not in the way he is now but as a human, feel her skin brush against his. If he only he could feel her the way he dreams of doing. Careful so as not to put too much weight on her, he rests his head on hers, letting the brown curls tickle his chin. A deep exhale escapes his lips, causing a few strands to shift slightly.

Belle pulls him closer desperately, nails clawing into the back of his jacquard-embroidered jacket, but that only makes it worse. He cries as much as he dares, until his breathing slows down and he can see through the tears in his eyes again. She looks up at him then, studying his expression as he is at his most vulnerable.

Slowly she raises a hand and cups his cheek, thumb brushing against the soft fur. A strange feeling fills her stomach, something she’s unfamiliar with but not entirely against. Belle’s heartbeat quickens. If he were human… _Oh, God if he were human…_ Then she’d stand on the tips of her toes, look deep into his beautiful blue eyes, and softly press her lips against his. Her gaze moves towards them now, but decides against it. She doesn’t know what’s gotten into her.

“Thank you for taking me there,” Belle says instead, and Adam smiles warmly at her. She unravels her arms from around his torso and takes a step back, straightening her skirt. “I should go to sleep. It’s been a long day.”

“Of course,” he agrees, but there’s a hint of disappointment in his eyes. She nods awkwardly and curtsies before walking out of the library. When out of his sight she darts up the stairs to her bedroom in the East Wing, heart pounding furiously in her chest.

Belle barely bothers to undress, unlacing her corset and stays and pulling off her skirts, before she collapses onto her bed. She lays there, wide awake, hopelessly trying to fall asleep even though she cannot. Every time she closes her eyes he appears before her, haunting her.

On the other side of the castle Adam lies in his bed, just like she. It had been like magic, to have her arms wrapped around him. It had been like he’d forgotten who he was for a moment, as if he were still human. It still feels like she is there, the places where she’d touched him haunted by her phantom touch.

Belle doesn’t know what she’s expecting, but it’s almost like she’s waiting for the muffled sound of a knock on her door, a sound she knows she will never hear. She gives up and buries her head underneath the covers and falls asleep.

If he were human he’d run to her. Adam would knock at her door, burst into the room, wrap his arms around her, kiss her like it would be his last time. But he’s not. He turns his back towards the door that he’s been staring at for what seems like hours and falls asleep. _Oh, God if he were human..._


	7. Bright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle nurses Adam back to health after the wolf attack- in more ways than just one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know.
> 
> I've been having some trouble with my writing lately. I got less kudos than everyone else and very few comments. I'm a person who very much depends on other people's opinion of me, so when I didn't get the response I was expecting I started overthinking. I was terrified that no one actually liked my writing, and then I was humiliated because I kept promoting it on my tumblr and I thought I must be annoying people.
> 
> But anyway, I finished this chapter. And yes, I will finish these prompts but it will take longer than I initially thought. And yes, it is because of my doubts of myself as a writer.
> 
> To whoever wrote that anon, thank you so much. Without you I probably wouldn't even have finished this prompt.
> 
> Just goes to show how much comments and kudos MATTER. They really, really do. So if you want more, I might need a little help along the way.
> 
> As always, happy reading.

The sun shines bravely through the large window to the West Wing, the sunbeam blinding Adam. He lies there in complete silence, basking in the sunlight he hasn’t felt against his eyelids in a very long time. Most days at the castle were gloomy and dark, the kind face of the sun too fearful to show its face, ever since the curse. But this morning was different. He has no idea why.

There was a strange feeling that was spreading in the castle now. A wistful cloud of hope and longing for what was just out of arm’s reach looming over them. Adam knew his friends were expecting things to change now that his relationship with Belle had evolved. True, it was different between them now compared to what it had been like when they first met. Belle had been at his bedside every day since she’d taken him back to the castle, tending to his wounds and (as the only person in the castle except himself with hands) feeding him. Sometimes she’d sit there long after the staff had left and gone to bed, telling him stories of her childhood, laughing at his playful remarks. There were some days when he woke up to the sight of Belle sleeping in her chair, cheek posed on the armrest, little puffs of air escaping her lips whenever she sighed in her sleep. He’d cough as a way to wake her up, and then quickly close his eyes and pretend to be in deep slumber so she wouldn’t be embarrassed by the fact that he knew that she sometimes spent her nights there.

When she had been his prisoner Adam hadn’t thought much of her. She was pretty, but that was no way to judge a person’s character, he’d come to learn. So had he been before he turned into a monster, but he had been a horrid man even before the Enchantress’ curse. Now Adam adores her. He adores the way she scrunches her nose when she laughs, adores the way her eyes light up when she talks about her favourite books, the peachy shade her cheeks flushes when looks at her, the warm tone of her skin from hours of work in her garden in Villeneuve. He adores how he could study her face for hours and still never to fathom those freckles of hers into constellations. Most of all Adam adores the way she wasn’t afraid to laugh at him, whereas others would be too frightened by his exterior to even dare question him.

Other days she’d wake Adam up by taking a seat beside him on the great canopied bed, her hip against the curve of his waist, and placing a warm hand on his forehead to check his temperature. Not that it did much help. With his body covered in all that fur his body temperature was naturally higher than any human’s. But he pretends not to know that, knowing Belle would stop if he told her.

On those days she’d smile down at him as he awoke. “Good morning”, she’d say, and he’d smile back at her. Those days were his favourite.

Adam feels a slight shift in weight and he knows this one would be good too. Belle does according to her usual routine and places her hand on his forehead. He smiles at the touch.

“Good morning,” he greets her with a muffled voice, still sleepy.

She stutters for a moment before gathering herself. “Hi.” Adam opens his eyes and the two smile at each other. “How are you feeling? Are the wounds hurting particularly today?”

Adam shudders at the memory and winces at his movement. His shoulder still aches from the wolf bites, even though the fever has passed. But saving Belle had been well worth the pain. Now she was the very reason he wants to live, whereas before he had begged for death’s merciful kiss.

Her long, delicate fingers reach out and start caressing his forearm, warm and gentle, an intimacy his heart is too weak to take. His breath hitches in his throat. He’s never been so intimately touched by a woman before. Sure, he’d had his usual rendez-vous with whoever he wanted back before he had been cursed, but even then it had not been the same. When he lay with those women he’d done it just to feel worthy, like he was worshipped. That had been the only love he had known. He’d been with them just to be able to be touched, desperately trying to feel something in their soft grips and tugs. He never had. Until Belle wandered into his life, and with just a soft touch, a nice gesture as she had pulled her cloak over his shivering, injured body, she had brought him back to life.

Every morning when Adam woke up and saw her beautiful face smiling at him he feels blessed. How lucky he had been to have her walk into his castle just like that, and change his life forever. Before Belle Adam had waited in agony for his death to come, but now he wants nothing more than to live, if only just to see her smile. Yes, that would be enough for him now. No ball, no expensive clothing, no trip to Versailles, nothing of great expense, could compare to her.

Yes, he thinks. With her there, everything seemed so much brighter.


End file.
